


Twelve Questing Pieces

by Ride_Forever



Series: North by Northwest: due South poems [37]
Category: due South
Genre: M/M, Poetry, Unconventional Format
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-04
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-08-18 03:33:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8147740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ride_Forever/pseuds/Ride_Forever
Summary: This is a due South Canadian Six Degrees Big Bang complementary work in the form of a set of twelve linked poems that match, story for story, Mific's linked stories telling of Fraser and Ray on the Quest for the Hand of Franklin.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [In which Ray and Fraser go in search of the Hand of Franklin](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7828669) by [mific](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mific/pseuds/mific). 



> AN #1  
> Mific illustrated The Hand of Franklin with a drawing; I illustrated it in a poetic way by selecting twelve different poetry forms in which to write and arranging them, story by story, in a specific order to create an acrostic that spells out **FRANKLIN HAND**. To see how that works, read down the initial letters of the twelve poetry forms that correspond in order to the twelve stories:  
> 
> 
> **F** ibonacci Sequence poem  
>  **R** ispetto poem  
>  **A** lphabetical poem  
>  **N** onet poem  
>  **K** atauta Sedoka poem  
>  **L** ai poem  
>  **I** talian Sonnet poem  
>  **N** ovelinee Sequence poem  
> 
> **H** aibun poem  
>  **A** ubade poem  
>  **N** ursery Rhyme poem  
>  **D** ecastich poem  
> 
> AN #2  
>  In story number two there appears the Inuktitut phrase "kajjaarinngitait," which means "you find it dreary". It should here be read as Fraser admitting "Ray, you find it dreary".  
>  ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

_TITLE & PRÉCIS_ \--  
(written as a **FIBONACCI SEQUENCE** poem: multiple-line verse based on the Fibonacci Sequence so that the number of syllables in each line equals the total number of syllables in the preceding two lines)

In  
which  
Ray and  
Fraser go  
in search of the Hand  
of Franklin, finding adventure  
and danger, sharing stories and struggles, sex and love.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

_STORY ONE -- RAY YAMMERS ON ABOUT FRANKLIN’S HAND_  
(written as a **RISPETTO** poem: one stanza of eight eleven-syllable lines, with an ababccdd rhyme scheme)

City fit and a lot to say about it,  
not yet Arctic fit and saying even more.  
Ski a bit, "sled-sit" a bit -- not gonna quit.  
Ray is talking more than Fraser with his lore.  
Ray keeps talking about the reach of that hand,  
at first doesn’t get it, but then understands.  
Ray in the wilderness will be like that too --  
when it’s his heart that talks, he’ll know what to do.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

_STORY TWO -- FRASER TELLS A FAIRY STORY_  
(written as an **ALPHABETICAL** poem: words arranged in alphabetical order)

Arctic blasts, cold descending.  
Eventually Fraser grants his Inuit-tale’s  
just kajjaarinngitait,  
laird-tale more nightworthy,  
offering prose quelling Ray’s storm terrors…  
until very warm xxx’s yield zzz’s.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

_STORY THREE -- RAY GETS SHAFTED_  
(written as a **NONET** poem: nine lines having nine syllables in the first line and subtracting a syllable per line down to one syllable in the ninth line)

enough room at the top for Ray to  
drop through and down and down -- and stop  
where it narrowed -- tight and cold  
and colder -- then hearing  
Dief barking, Fraser  
calling, calling  
Ray! Ray! Ray!  
reaching  
out

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

_STORY FOUR -- RAY TELLS A CREEPY CAR STORY_  
(written as a **KATAUTA SEDOKA** poem: a pair of unrhymed three-line stanzas having a 5-7-7 syllable count each, one stanza being a statement and the other stanza being a question related to that statement) 

Ray’s czarna Wolga:  
a modern fairy tale or  
a modern horror story?

Either way, it turned  
out to be the prelude to  
Fraser’s freaky subtle kiss.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

_STORY FIVE -- RAY FAILS AT HUNTING GROUSES_  
(written as a **LAI** poem: a nine-line stanza with an aabaabaab rhyme scheme wherein the “a” lines have five syllables and the “b” lines have two syllables)

Ptarmigan abound,  
a protein source found,  
a treat.  
Follow birds around,  
knock birds to the ground,  
then eat.  
Fraser throws stones 'round.  
Ray won’t shoot birds down:  
discreet.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

_STORY SIX -- CHANGE OF PLANS AND OTHER DRAMAS_  
(written as an **ITALIAN SONNET** poem: an eight-line stanza with an abbaabba rhyme scheme, followed by a six-line stanza with an abcabc rhyme scheme)

Something about the hazy northern light  
was having an effect on Ray --  
confused as to change of direction in the glare of the day,  
and when Fraser dissembled, Ray took it as a slight.  
Fraser would bravely face personal danger to maintain the right,  
but when personal emotions should hold sway  
he was inclined to back away  
(and to chasten Dief for being impolite).

When Ray realized and accepted that they were turning around  
he asked “From Inuvik, what happens then?”  
but he thought he knew the answer:  
Fraser would get himself posted way north of any town  
and Ray would go due south again  
to footprints marked on the floor for a solo dancer.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

_STORY SEVEN -- FRASER JUST CAN’T RESIST THOSE OLD INUIT TALES_  
(written as a **NOVELINEE SEQUENCE** poem: a nine-line stanza with an ababcdcdd rhyme scheme and with the last line of the stanza being a variation on the first line of the stanza) 

It began with the night and a myth and a legend.  
It began with an Inuit tale  
of three brothers who ascend  
a mountain to kill a monster…and two fail.  
Then came the Inuit tale of Kunik the bear  
and the old woman who loved him and feared for his plight,  
so sent him away when told “Kunik is in danger! Beware!”  
Ray asked the meaning of the name of the bear who took flight  
and that led from myth to legend to a nuzzle in the night.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

_STORY EIGHT – GOOD CLEAN FUN AT THE SWEAT LODGE_  
(written as a **HAIBUN** poem: a form that is a pairing of a prose poem together with a haiku – the haiku is written in typical haiku style of three lines where the first line is five syllables, the second line is seven syllables, and the third line is again five syllables, and the prose poem is one which describes a scene or moment in time -- and between the prose poem and the haiku there is a thematic connection)  


There is the sweat lodge – it represents the inner world. There is the mound of earth just outside the sweat lodge; there is the fire pit just outside the sweat lodge; there is the circle drawn around the fire pit just outside the sweat lodge. There is the mound of earth – it represents the planet earth; there is the fire pit – it represents the sun; there is the drawn circle – it represents the moon. There is the sweat lodge – it represents the inner world, and as one emerges from the lodge, emerging from the hot dark to the cool light, it is likened to being born anew.  


These two men enter  
the sweat lodge; these men emerge  
and they enter love.  


~*~ ~*~ ~*~  


_STORY NINE -- EVERYBODY GETS SOME, EVEN WOLVES_  
(written as an **AUBADE** poem: thematically always an ode to morning itself or a love poem of lovers in the morning or a nature poem with a morning setting)  


Hark now  
Bark now  
Half-wolf yip  
The night before Dief gave them the slip  
When comes the morning, everyone has _come_  
Man or wolf, everybody gets some  
Morning light  
Morning bright  
All species of lovers have cause for delight  
The arctic morning is cold but morning love is hot  
Getting some is what man and wolf got  


~*~ ~*~ ~*~  


_STORY TEN – FRASER MAKES LIKE HUMPTY DUMPTY_  
(written in the style of the **NURSERY RHYME** poem on which the chapter title is based: a single quatrain with an aabb rhyme scheme and a meter consisting of alternating stressed and unstressed syllables)  


Benton Fraser slipped down a slope –  
Rescue by Ray was his one hope.  
After Gordon the trucker gave them a ride,  
The helicopter got them safely inside.  


~*~ ~*~ ~*~  


_EPILOGUE_ \--  
(written as a **DECASTICH** poem: a free-verse form consisting of either a single stanza of exactly ten lines or multiple free-verse stanzas of exactly ten lines each)  


There was this quest  
said to be in search of a lost expedition.  
There was this quest  
which spoke of that expedition  
as trying to trace one warm line.  
There was this quest  
where a different kind of warm line  
connected  
these two men,  
these partners in every way.  


~*~ ~*~ ~*~  
~*~ ~*~ ~*~

**Author's Note:**

> TYK to half_a_fanboy for weekend-before-deadline beta.


End file.
